It looks like a lobster. It even moves like a lobster. But this is not a lobster.

It is, in fact, a painstakingly carved and meticulously assembled model of a lobster, created by 25-year-old artist Ryosuke Ohtake. The piece is a first-rate example of jizai okimono, a style of Japanese animal sculpture that places a high premium on realism and full, lifelike anatomical articulation.

According to Colossal's Chris Jobson, the lobster, with its extensively segmented body plan, has long been considered the most challenging jizai okimono subject. That it is Ohtake's first official foray into the style (not to mention the fact that he whittled its segments from wood, a less forgiving medium than the metal alloys commonly used), is a further testament to his clearly considerable talents.